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Weeks powers Brewers past Reds

Aug 6, 2008 - 9:32 PM By Douglas Tifft PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Jeff Suppan supplied a solid pitching performance and Rickie Weeks tied a career high with four hits as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Cincinnati Reds , 6-3, on Wednesday.

Suppan (7-7), making his fourth start since returning from joint irritation in his left elbow on July 22, allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings with three strikeouts. Suppan, who won consecutive starts for the first time this season, has a 4.66 ERA in 27 innings since returning from the injury. He tossed seven scoreless frames in his last outing, a 9-0 win at Atlanta on Friday.

"Today, I felt like I was locating and letting my defense do the work, and they did a great job," Suppan said.

Weeks ignited the Brewers' offense with his first four-hit game since May 21, 2007 at Los Angeles. He raised his average eight points to .231.

Milwaukee appeared to be unraveling on Monday, when first baseman Prince Fielder and pitcher Manny Parra engaged in a shoving match in the dugout. But the Brewers rebounded from that 6-3 loss to win the final two contests of the three-game series.

Overall, Milwaukee has won 11 of its last 17 games on the road and joins the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Philadelphia and St. Louis as the only teams with a winning record away from home this season. It's an impressive feat for a club that struggled to a 32-49 mark away from Miller Park last year. With Wednesday's win, the Brewers (32-28) matched last year's win total on the road.

"Just taking two games from a good team like this on the road is big," Weeks said. "It is just hard for a team to win on the road, I can't put my finger on it. I don't know about home-field advantage, or any of that."

Suppan credited the veteran presence on this year's team with the boost in road victories.

"It gets to the point with our team where experience has taken over," he said. "We know that the core of the team has played with each other, and then a good mix of other players (has helped)."

After Mike Cameron put the Brewers on the board with an RBI double in a three-run second, Weeks drove in two with his second of four singles to give the Brewers a 3-1 lead.

Three innings later, Weeks again was on base when Ryan Braun delivered an RBI double to snap a 3-3 tie.

In the sixth, Jason Kendall's two-run single extended Milwaukee's lead to 6-3 and chased Cincinnati starter Homer Bailey (0-6), whose winless streak at any level reached 18 starts, dating to May 30 while with Class AAA Lousiville. Bailey's ERA climbed to 7.93.

"I stuck with him to try and get him this victory, to give him a chance to get the victory," Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said. "It's called building a young man into a man and a young pitcher into a pitcher.

The only Red to have success against Suppan was rookie Jay Bruce, who drove in all three runs with an RBI groundout in the first and a two-run home run in the third. Bruce extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

Brian Shouse and Eric Gagne combined for a scoreless eighth and Salomon Torres worked the ninth for his 22nd save of the season.